At the industry and experimental level, different types of reactors designed to create optimal conditions for anaerobic digestion of organic waste are identified. At the industry level, according to the EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) in 2011 34% of the reactors were plug flow (PF) modified, 30% were full mix (MC), 13% were covered lagoons, the 13% were horizontal FP, and the remaining 10% was divided between reactors “Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket” (UASB) to adehesa biomass and other gaps partially covered. In the past decade, the FP was the most common reactor. Only in recent years have MC digesters increased their presence in the U.S. market. On the other hand, in Europe the most common type of reactor is the MC. This is due to the fact that most of the biogas market in Europe is covered by the German companies that opt for this technology in building agricultural decentralized plants.
In a plug flow reactor, the most important function of the recirculation system of the digestate is to recycle the microorganisms grown during anaerobic digestion to inoculate fresh waste to the influent, i.e., increasing the concentration of the catalyst right where it is most needed. Another function of the recirculation is to increase the agitation of the reactor. By increasing the flow velocity increases turbulence in the reactor with it, the agitation. This implies that the agitation system by biogas and digestate recirculation can have the same purpose: to homogenize the content of the reactor. For example, in an EGSB (“expanded granular sludge bed”) reactor a high flow recirculation, combined with the internal resistance due to the granular sludge is normally applied, it creates a good agitation. Another example is the agitation by pumped of the digestate in a reactor at MC. Note that to get a good stirring of the reactor by stirring, is necessary to move from laminar flow to turbulent flow by increasing the recirculation flow and/or hydraulic barriers.
Various anaerobic digesters are known from the prior art that aim to produce methane from the decomposition of organic material and then produce biogas. At the same time it is observed that there are various designs of reactors used for this purpose, as well as building materials used. It is also known front the prior art that for best results in the process of generation of gas from the anaerobic decomposition it is necessary to agitate the material residing within the reactor to maximize the action of the bacterial organisms and thus have better control of the pH, pressure and temperature of the biodigestion process.
ES 8602551 describes an anaerobic digestion tank for use in sewage wells with gas circulation pipes which open into the bottom of the tank, targeting the gas bubbling through the wells to shake thereto, where some these pipes are associated individually with heat exchange envelopes of heaters. Each gas circulation pipe opens to the lower part of the tank so that the gas exiting from the pipe does so in the direction towards the base of the tank and the bottom of the wells, so that the wells are drawn into below to collide on the tank base to remove sedimented materials and thus avoid the accumulation of these materials in the bottom of the tank.
For its part U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,079 describes an anaerobic process carried out in a pond where biological reaction occurs under anaerobic conditions and the pond is operated in a fill sequence. When waste enters into the reactor pond it is mixed with biogas or liquid recirculating and waste feed continues until the reactor is filled to its maximum predetermined level. Anaerobic reaction occurs with continuous or intermittent mixing and once it discontinues enables biomass to settle forming low solids. Alter sufficient time in the settling cycle, the liquid over low solids on the reactor is discarded decreasing the reactor contents to the predetermined low liquid level. The mixture of gas or liquid is recirculated again and she excess biomass from the reactor periodically wasted.
Document US 20060231488 describes a tubular digester system including a heat holding tank connected to a manifold which feeds one or multiple parallel injection pumps that force the filling through valves and into one or several parallel digesters hulls. The biogas produced by the digester is pressurized due to a liquid column effluent created by a high output. The filling material is put into contact with microorganisms that promote the generation of biogas which is stored by a collector whose release is controlled by a valve or regulator.
Finally, the document US 2002/0079266 discloses a system for converting the cellulose contained in the raw material into useful materials, which contains in one or more sludge feeders, two or more anaerobic pressurized digesters connected in parallel, each reactor containing a stirrer, a or more feed ports, one or more discharge ports, optional pressure regulator, and a reaction chamber, which supports the reaction solution containing anaerobic microorganisms that convert the aqueous slurry at least methane and enriched effluent. This invention is characterized by the use of high pressure for the process which range from more than 10 psi to 265 psi, in order to provide conditions for the decomposition of cellulose into useful materials.
Therefore, none of the prior art proposes the technical advantage of providing an anaerobic digestion reactor that facilitates the digestion of different types of organic matter on a continuous basis, in an economical, simple, accessible and adaptable to different agro-industrial processes way, being easily scalable through material and structural principles of geotechnical to lower costs and by control systems that made more flexible operability, optimizing their performance by means of hydrodynamic control reactor.